Centrifugal pump drive and seal means



Jan. 20, 1953 w. M. Howsl-:R

CENTRIFUGAL PUMP DRIVE AND SEAL MEANS Filed Jan. 25 1951 Ult PatentedJan. 20, 1953 GEN'ERIEUGALPUMP naive. am)y SEAL MEANS WalterM: Howser,ndianapoli's, Ind.; JilliaM;

Hovvse'r ad-mnistratrix of 'said- Walter Howser,.deceased ApplicationJanuar-y 25, 1951, serial No. fsaofzfsa 2. Claims; l

This` invention relates to a' pump and more particularlyto apump of: theAtype employing a rotaryim'peller.

The primaryl obj ect of.. theinvention isV to prote'ct the Ipumpbear-ings fromycon-tact with the fluid which is being handled by thepump.

Another object iste avoid leakage around the pump impellerdrive shaftwhe-re it enters the impeller chamber and to. thus enable lubricantstobe used in thepumpbearings; even though the The above and otherobject`s-maybefattainedI by employing this invention which Yembodiesamong its features a rotary pump of the type having a casing carrying alaterally extending tubular drive Yshaft housing and. an impell'erchamber in; substantial axial 'alignment therewith, `a section-ail'driveshaft'mojnnted in the tubtilar drive shaft housing andjxlze'ndingthrough saidg'housing, an impeller mounted on one-,section ofgsaid driveshaft within thejim'peller chamber,

impeller driving means mounted on another s-ection of said drivelshaftxadjacent the end thereof remote vfrom the impeller chamber,driving means Icarried by the drive shaft. sections within the housingto vestablish flexiblrand extensible driving connection between saiddrive shaft sections, whereby endwise movement of the drive shaftsection ycarrying the impeller driving means will not be transmitted tothe drive shaft section carrying the impeller, and slight mis-alignmentof the drive shaft sections can be tolerated.

Other feature-s include a sealing ring carried by the pump casing andprojecting into the impeller chamber in concentric spaced relation tothe shaft section carrying the impeller, a second sealing ring carriedby the shaft section carrying the impeller in concentric spaced relationthereto for engaging the first mentioned sealing ring and effecting afluid tight seal at the junction of the rings, and means within thedrive shaft housing and engaging the shaft section carrying theimpellei:` to; urge it longitudinally toward the shaft section carryingthe impeller driving rneansand hold vthe adjacent faces of. the sealingrings in close contactwith one another.

InL the drawings:

Figure 1 is a, longitudinal. sectional view through apump embodying the,features of this invention showing onel type bear-ing of. lubricatingmeans; andV Figure 2 isa fragmentaryperspective View of the pump casing.and impeller showing the sealing rings indetail.

Referring to the drawingsindetail a pump casing designated generally.If. includes a tubular drive shaft housing I2 andcontained within saidpump casing is an 'impellerv chamber I which aligns substantiallyaxially. with the tubular housing- I2. Carried by, theftu'bular vhousingI2 in the end thereo'fadjacen't the impeller chamberv Id. is a shaftvbearing I6, and a similar shaft bearing IS is heldin the tubular.-housing` I2 adjacent the end thereof remo-te from the yimpeller chamberItby a suitable set screw 23.

Carried by the casing I3. and Aprojecting-. intov the impeller chamber.YId4 isasealing ring 22 which liesV concentric abouttheaxisof thebearings IS and Iwinospaced concentric relation to the bearingsv I6.

Mounted for rotation in the bearings IG and i8 is a sectional ldriveshaft designated generally 2d, `one section 2t of whichisvmounted'f-orrotationy in bearing. I8 lbut held against longitudinal movementrelative thereto byv stops 2li` and 3d. As` illustrated inligure l, theshaftsection 2t projects beyond theend-of. the housing I2.re mote fromthe chamber I4 andv `has keyed or otherwise secured thereto an impeller.driving member 32 which mayv take the form of a conventionalpulley. Therend of the shaft section. 2S contained Within the housing I2 is providedwith longitudinally extending peripherally spaced teeth 34, the outerends of which are preferably tapered 4as at 36 for a purpose to be morefully hereinafter described.

Mounted for rotation in the bearing IIS is the section 38 of the driveshaft 24 which projects into the chamber I4 and has keyed or otherwisesecured thereto a suitable impeller 40. The shaftsection 38 is not onlyrotatable in the bearings I6, but may move longitudinally therein, andcarried by the impeller 40 is a sealing ring 42 which lies concentricabout the shaft section 38 in spaced relation thereto as will be readilyunderst-ood upon reference to the drawings.

The end of the shaft section 38 remote from 3 that carrying the impeller40 is provided with longitudinally extending teeth 44 which like theteeth 34, are tapered as at 46. The teeth 34 mesh with the teeth 44 soas to establish iiexible and extensible driving connection between theshaft sections 26 and 38 of the drive shaft 24.

In orderto hold the adjacent faces 48 and 50 of the sealing rings 42 inclose contact, I provide on the shaft section 38 within the tubularhousing I2 an outwardly extending annular collar 52, and mounted on theshaft section 38 for longitudinal sliding movement relative thereto andadjacent the bearing I6 is an anti-friction bearing 54. A compressionc'oil spring 56 encircles the shaft section 38 between the anti-frictionbearing 54 and the collar 52 so as to exert yielding pressure on thecollar and advance the shaft section 38 longitudinally toward the shaftsection 26 to thus yieldingly hold the faces 46 and 50 of the sealingrings 22 and 42 in close contact.

In operation, the drive shaft 24 is driven in a conventional manner bythe impeller driving means 32 to cause the impeller 40 to rotate withinthe chamber I4. Owing to the extensible and flexible connections of theshaft section 26 with the shaft section 38, it will be evident that anylongitudinal movement of the shaft section 26 by impeller driving member32 will not be transmitted to the shaft section 38 so that the adjacentfaces 48 and 50 of the sealing rings 22 and 42 respectively at all timeswill be held in sealing engagement with one another under the inuence ofthe spring 56. By thus sealing the bearings I6 and I8 from the chamberI4, it will be obvious that uids handled by the impeller 40 will beexcluded from contact with the drive shaft 24, and bearings I6 and I8.

By thus excluding fluids handled by the impeller 40 from contact withthe bearings I6 and I8, and with the drive shaft 24, it is obvious thatlubricants may be supplied to the bearings I6 and I8 without danger ofdissolution by solvents, such as gasoline and naptha. Also by avoidingmechanical disengagement of the faces 48 and B of the sealing rings 22and 42, it is evident that the eiiciency of the seals will be greatlyincreased over those of a pump employing a solid drive shaft in place ofthe sectional drive shaft 24, herein described.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferredform of this invention, it is to be understood that minor changes in thedetails of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas claimed.

I claim:

1. In a universal driving shaft for rotary pumps and the like, a casinghaving a fluid inlet and outlet, an elongated extension projecting fromone side of said casing and having a bore extending longitudinallytherethrough and opening into said casing, sleeve bearings fitted Withinthe opposite ends of said bore, a shaft section extending through one ofsaid bearings and projecting into said casing, an impeller mounted onthe shaft end within said casing, a second shaft section extendingthrough the other of said bearings, interengaged teeth formed on theadjacent ends of said shaft sections, the teeth on said second shaftsection having their free ends tapered, a pulley mounted on the outerend of said second shaft section, the portion of said bore in which theinner of said bearings is fitted being of a somewhat lesser diameterthan that of the remainder of the bore length to provide an annularshoulder in the plane of the inner end of that bearing, an antifrictionbearing mounted on the first shaft section in abutted relation withrespect to said shoulder, a collar mounted on the inner end of the firstshaft section, cooperative seal rings carried by said casing and saidimpeller in concentric relation with respect to the first shaft section,and a coil spring on the rst shaft section between said antifrictionbearing and said collar to maintain said teeth and said seal rings incooperative engage` ment irrespective of any non-alignment of said shaftsections due to Wear of said sleeve bearings occasioned by belt strainon said pulley.

2; The invention las defined in claim 1, With the said extension havinga chamber, constituting a lubricant reservoir, below said bore, andmeans operable by said shaft sections for conveying the lubricant fromthe reservoir for its discharge onto the shaft sections at said sleevebearings.

WALTER M. HOWSER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,008,317 Fink Nov. 14, 19111,324,063 Noel Dec. 9, 1919 2,047,330 Petersen July 14, 1936 2,150,078Pollock Mar. 7, 1939 2,371,250 Maroney Mar. 13, 1945 2,388,456 WildhaberNov. 6, 1945 2,439,315 Newton Apr. 6, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 325,822 Germany Sept. 20, 1920 494,469 Great Britain Oct.26, 1938

